* AdaptationDisplacement:** Thomas Keneally's ''Schindler's Ark'' was hardly an obscure book, having won the Booker Prize in the year of its publication, but the movie is on a whole different level; subsequent reprints of the book have even changed the title to match the film.** Spielberg made several changes from the source material; in particular, he exaggerated Schindler's journey from [[MoneyDearBoy money-grubbing]] JerkAss to hero. In the book and in real life, Schindler was trying to save as many Jews as possible almost from the moment the Final Solution was implemented. He even traveled to Budapest, Hungary and met with representatives of Jewish organizations there to tell them what was happening in Poland as early as 1942. * AwardSnub:** Mike Newell, the director of ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral'', felt guilty when he won best foreign film at the 1995 César Awards (France's equivalent of the Oscars) instead of this film. That's right, '''the director who won an award felt this happened'''. To say nothing of what everyone else at the ceremony said.** There's also Creator/RalphFiennes losing both the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor to Creator/TommyLeeJones from ''Film/TheFugitive''.** Some people also feel that Creator/LiamNeeson losing the Globe and Oscar for Best Actor to Creator/TomHanks from ''Film/{{Philadelphia}}'' is also this.** While not as regularly cited as the above omissions, a few critics (notably Creator/GeneSiskel of the Chicago Tribune) thought Creator/EmbethDavidtz was worthy of a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work as Helen Hirsch. In most years people would've cried fowl, but because Anna Paquin's win was so monumentally significant, this omission has largely been overlooked.** Some also thought Creator/BenKingsley could've additionally been given a Best Supporting Actor nomination. ** For all of the quibbles, the trope was averted overall by the Academy, as voters showered the film with 7 Awards, including Spielberg's first ever competitive Oscars for Directing and Producing (coming years after getting passed over for his more commercial pictures). It also remains the only Spielberg film to win a Best Picture Prize. * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Do we expect anything less from Music/JohnWilliams? ** John initially refused to do the film because ''he didn't think he was good enough''. Spielberg's reply? "[[LastOfHisKind Anyone who is better is dead.]]"** Itzhak Perlman, the Jewish violinist who provided the theme, considered it to be the most important decision he ever made in his career. At first, he said he wasn't going to be involved in such a movie...and then he saw how well Spielberg did it.* CatharsisFactor: [[DefiedTrope Defied]]. Amon Goeth's execution scene is relatively brief, lasting less than a minute, and after all the suffering he caused, he [[FaceDeathWithDignity lacks the decency]] [[VillainousBreakdown to plead for undeserved mercy]].* CompleteMonster: Amon Goeth is the AxCrazy [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] Lieutenant in charge of the liquidation of the Krakow Jewish ghetto and is the overseer of the [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Plaszow concentration camp]]. Goeth's true nature is first exposed when he encounters a Jewish forewoman protesting that the foundation of the structure in the camp they're building is unsound, and this will lead to the building's eventual collapse. Goeth's response is for her to be killed in front of the other workers. [[KickTheDog He then orders his men to follow the dead woman's instructions anyway]]. This is merely the first instance in a long line of pointless and unpredictable violence from Goeth. Some of his most infamous crimes are shooting prisoners with a sniper rifle for sport, personally killing twenty-five men in a rage after one man from their barracks managed to escape from his work detail, and laughing at crying parents as he sends away trainloads of their children to be gassed. [[BaitTheDog Every time a possible flicker of humanity is exposed in Goeth, it is quickly subverted then extinguished]]. When Oskar Schindler tries to convince Goeth that true power is mercy, Goeth briefly tries out being merciful, even sparing the life of a Jewish boy who was unable to clean the stains in Goeth's bathtub. But, unable to really understand the power of mercy that Schindler has described, Goeth decides to kill the boy anyway. When he finds himself [[VillainousCrush attracted to his Jewish maid, Helen]], he attempts to clumsily come on to her, only to eventually blame her for his own sexual feelings and savagely beat her afterwards. In the end, it seems like Goeth is a pure sociopath driven only by his erratic whims, only able to ape the basic mannerisms of a human being. He even seems [[EvilCannotComprehendGood unable to understand basic compassion and human decency]] when confronted with it.* EvilIsSexy: Creator/RalphFiennes as Amon Goeth.* FanPreferredCouple: Amon and Helen, pairing occasionally supported by viewers, despite unlikelihood of it ever possibly working out, particularly since Amon mostly seems to see her as something he likes to possess than actually caring about her.* HilariousInHindsight: At least ironic in Hindsight. Goeth lectures his men before an Aktion. --> Today is history. Today will be remembered. Years from now, the young will ask with wonder...about this day. Today is history, and you are part of it.** Another ironic in hindsight would be Schindler's "people will remember my name"-speech. The first part of it came true. The second part... Not so much. Bonus points for the word "here", as anyone who has been in Krakow after the movie was released will tell you.** A behind-the-scenes example is more straightforward; at one point Creator/MelGibson expressed interest in playing Schindler.** These lines after Ralph Fiennes played the role of Ramses in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'':-->'''Schindler:''' They're my people, I want my people.-->'''Goeth:''' Who are you, Moses?* HypeBacklash: It is VERY popular on review websites such as Website/IMDb to bash this film for being cloying, melodramatic and [[RealityIsUnrealistic unrealistic]], or simply [[ItsPopularNowItSucks just too well liked.]] Extra points if it's being criticized by a [[ThoseWackyNazis Neo-Nazi]] or a Holocaust Denier. In some ways, this is probably the ultimate movie to criticize if someone wants to make themselves look cool, smart, and nonconformist. (Not that there ''aren't'' people who genuinely dislike it, but there are many people who do it just for attention.)* MagnificentBastard: Schindler himself. He's not the only one though - step forward Itzhak Stern, who played an unspeakably huge role in getting a lot of people who would otherwise have been slaughtered early on into Schindler's Factory. Poldek also arguably qualifies, being cunning enough to survive both the failed escape attempt in the sewers at Krakow and moments later a direct encounter with Goeth. He even gets himself a job as Goeth's mechanic at Plaszow.* MagnumOpus: Often considered the best movie of Spielberg's career.* MoralEventHorizon: Goeth crosses this line within the first hour of the movie. He's definitely crossed it when he [[ForTheEvulz shoots prisoners for sport]] with a sniper rifle from his balcony.* NoYay: The Helen Hirsh / Amon Goeth subtext. He is the camp commandant of a Nazi concentration camp, a [[TheSociopath complete sociopath]], and a sadistic mass murderer. She is one of the Jewish inmates, who was forced to become his maid. He [[VillainousCrush secretly desires her]] even though he wants to see her people exterminated. At one point he nearly (creepily) comes on to her, but he decides to beat her up instead, blaming her for trying to "seduce" him. Some of the fans think that his love for her could have redeemed him. This ignores the fact that he sees her more as property than as a human being.-->'''Goeth:''' I would like so much to reach out to you and touch you in your loneliness. What would it be like, I wonder? What would be wrong with that? I realize that you are not a person in the strictest sense of the word, but, um, maybe you're right about that too. Maybe what's wrong, it's not us, it's this... I mean, when they compare you to vermin, to rodents and to lice. I just, uh, you make a good point. You make a very good point. Is this the face of a rat? Are these the eyes of a rat? "Hath not a Jew eyes?" I feel for you Helen.[leans forward to kiss her] No, I don't think so. You Jewish bitch, you nearly talked me into it, didn't you? * ParanoiaFuel: Because of the Nazis' gradually escalating efforts to exterminate the Jews, it means that there's very little keeping the Jewish characters from being killed at any moment. The worst example has to be when the women and children get shipped to Auschwitz instead of to Schindler's factory ''because of a typo''...* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The whole reason that the movie exists. This was a story that '''needed''' to be told about an event in history and the people involved that must never be forgotten. Especially considering that most of what's shown in the film is ''tame'' compared to what really happened.* TearJerker: TheMovie. However, the most powerful scene would have to be [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpXQ-zBOS44 Schindler's breakdown near the end of the film]].** A close second would be Schindler seeing the body of the [[LittleDeadRidingHood little girl in the red coat]] pass by him on the way to the crematorium.** The song "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_of_Gold Jerusalem Of Gold]]" - an ''Israeli'' hymn of praise and longing for the (old) city - playing as the Schindler Jews walk hand in hand to freedom, just before their real-world counterparts come to pay their respect at Schindler's grave on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. This is really the only mention of the State of Israel - the final destination for many of the Schindler Jews - anywhere in the movie.*** This depends a lot on your political affiliation; Israeli leftists would see this as the kind of fear-mongering propaganda used to bring Jews to Israel, the sort that's constantly used by the Israeli government, which muddies up the rest of the film’s humanistic message.* WhatAnIdiot: At his 36th birthday party, a young Jewish woman and her daughter present Schindler with a small gift on behalf of the workers. Oskar, already a little tipsy, and used to feeling up any attractive woman he sees, absentmindedly gives the woman a kiss... ''in a room full of SS officers.'' GilliganCut to him waiting in a jail cell.* TheWoobie:** By the end of the film, every single one of the Jewish people.** Schindler himself applies.----